Author: humancodex

So much has happened since our last blog – It is about time we posted an update for you all!

Firstly, I want to say thank you to everyone who continues to follow and support The Human Codex. Your patience while waiting for the Core to be released is greatly appreciated 😊 we want it to be as good as it can be for you and will be sure to let you know as soon as its ready for users.

Since our last posts, we sold our house and moved to Croatia to be closer to the development team. It was hard leaving our friends and family, particularly just before Christmas, but it was to be our biggest adventure yet and we were excited to be moving full steam ahead with The Human Codex. The flight was a bit of an ordeal, for both us and the cats, but eventually we all got there!

We rented a house in Osijek from a very nice guy. There wasn’t anything that he wouldn’t do to help out and despite neither of us being able to speak each others language, we made it work. We dedicated one of the rooms in the house to be the THC workspace and kitted it out with desks, chairs, equipment etc. Everything felt as though it could be finally be falling into place but we should have known that something so worthwhile wouldn’t be that easy…

In April 2018, our Designer (Marko Boskavic) and our Front-end developer (Domagoj Buljan) departed the team. We were fortunate enough that our back end developer knew an extraordinary person and a one of a kind designer who liked and wanted to work with THC.

Losing our front-end developer wasn’t the best situation to be in however, luckily for us, we had also been liaising with another developer who had expressed an interest in working with us. He seemed keen, had many ideas and was looking for work – the timing was perfect!

Things got real bad real quick, we took the decision to flee Osijek and head towards Split on the coast of Croatia. Both the back-end and newly appointment Front-end developer agreed to continue their work with us remotely, so it was just a case of maintaining communication with them in order to avoid delays and keep things moving forward. It seemed as though, despite a few delays, we were back on track.

Unfortunately, that feeling didn’t last long. Once we had left Osijek, we contacted our newly appointed Front-end Developer on numerous occasions trying to get updates etc to which we either received no response or excuses days later. Time was of the essence and we couldn’t afford to keep waiting on him. This departure was actually extremely disappointing for us as we had genuinely thought he had been committed to THC. In addition, we knew that it would take time to find a replacement so either way work on THC was going to experience another delay.

Despite being in such a beautiful setting, this was probably our lowest moment working on THC. Everything felt like a struggle and we were tired of the constant battle. Our faith in humanity had been diminishing with each day and the reasons for carrying on were no longer clear. It was a dark time to say the least.

During this time, we also had to think about what the future held for us personally. We had invested a lot of our money into bringing THC to life and had to start considering the best way to use the remaining funds to live…

We came up with the idea of touring, so that we could slowly make our way back to the UK without having to put the cats through the trauma of another flight and also get to see a little of Europe on the way – perfect! So I headed back to the UK for a weekend in the middle of May, picked up a car and a caravan with my dad and returned to Croatia with them. I had never driven in Europe or towed a Caravan before, so the prospect was scary but still, an adventure.

The Founder and I had agreed that, while I was away, we would both think long and hard about whether to continue with The Human Codex. There had been so many obstacles and it became very tiring, always fighting to move forward.

BUT, if nothing else, we are determined! We feel that people could really benefit from using THC and it is our duty to get it out there. Upon my return, we started the hunt for a new Front-end Developer. The Founder had been in conversation with a friend who said that he could recommend someone. After so many knock backs, we tried not to get our hopes up, but this seemed to be the lifeline we were waiting for.

The new developer caught quickly up to speed with where the platform was at and began work to help finish what we started all those years ago!

Luckily, throughout all this, we also had a brilliant back-end developer and he kindly introduced us to a designer that he knew, who has turned out to be very professional and equally brilliant! Based on his knowledge and experience he has created a new design for The Human Codex and this is what we are currently working on implementing.

So, after the craziest 8 months, we are now back in the UK working remotely with the thc team that now is in Croatia and Poland. The journey has been anything but easy…but we are still here, now stronger, wiser and more determined than before. We have a committed team with some world class talent in it who are all working towards having THC up and alive. We can see the light!!

We began discussions with the new designer to ensure that THC remained on track however, during this time we also had a lot going on personally. My partner and I were on holiday and I was secretly planning to propose on the day of the solar Eclipse!

I was so happy when she said yes! However, this wasn’t the only thing I asked her while we were away. I also asked if she would be willing to sell our home and move to Croatia so that we could, together, invest more time and resources in to The Human Codex. Amazingly, she said yes again, and we started looking into the possibilities.

Shortly after we returned from holiday (and after I had finished battling sickness!) we started to devise a plan. The plan was for us to be living in Croatia by January 2018. In the meantime, we would be taking steps to sell the house, make arrangements for travel (cats too!), pack up all of our stuff and spend any remaining time with friends & family. All of this, with Christmas thrown in on top!

We had also planned to exhibit at TechDay in London in late October, but unfortunately, I suffered food poisoning towards the end of our holiday and lost over 2 stone in 10 days! I was then unwell, on and off, for the next 2 months which made it impossible to attend. Despite not being able to be there, The Human Codex was featured in an article as one of the “top ten start-ups to watch” which was a much-needed boost in confidence.

During the whole experience, a few people commented on the move asking “why?” and “what if?” – here is my answer to them…It’s just something that I need to do and now is the perfect time to do it. This will sound crazy, but it feels like my life has been building up to this. It’s an impulse that I am not able to control, and it just feels right. I can’t explain it.

Don’t get me wrong I am apprehensive. I have no guarantees where the future of THC will lead and those who know me well can imagine what I am like, but, it feels right and as long as there’s breathe in my lungs I will do all I can to make The Human Codex a success.

At the beginning of July 2017, I took the first step (leap of faith!) in the THC direction. For the first time in my life I traveled abroad on my own, to Croatia, where I met and stayed with people that I had only ever spoken to online. The flight out was ok, and I had a great conversation with the driver who drove me from Zagreb to Osijek, we are now friends and are meeting up soon!

When I arrived at Domagoj’s place and we met for the first time in person, I instantly felt as if I had been around him before – as if I had known his presence in a way. We went inside, and I got to meet his lovely partner and eat some delicious food. Later that night we went for a meal and I had the opportunity to meet the other 2 team members that Domagoj had recruited to help out: Designer Davor and Back End Developer Davor. We spoke about THC whilst also getting to know one another and it was a really good night. After dinner, Domagoj took me to meet Alen, the man who I would be staying with whilst I was there. Even though we never met, we had a long chat and completely hit it off. I had a great time and felt very welcome/safe whilst staying there.

Whilst in Osijek, Designer Davor and his wife kept me entertained throughout the day showing me around the local sites and Domagoj’s partner took me to the local market where I got to meet her parents – such lovely people. I had a really great time. One of the evenings we dedicated to The Human Codex by holding our first team Scrum – we ordered food and went in to detail about The Human Codex, what it is, what it will do, and what it will become. I think for the first time the team got to see the passion behind THC and why the task of getting it live has never stopped.

I came back from Croatia full of positive thoughts and for the first time realised what I had been envisioning for so long, will actual come true by the end of the year. Unfortunately, things took a slight turn when the Designer advised us that he had another commitment, which meant that he would no longer be able to dedicate the necessary time to THC. Luckily for us, Domagoj was quick to find someone else to help and now we are more confident than ever that THC will be created and become everything that we hope it to be but I had no idea where it would lead me.

When we first started I was so excited, I had finally found someone to make The Human Codex the way I wanted, who understood the concept, except what I kept thinking it was all to good to be true. Which later turned out to be the case. Long Story cut short, I found myself over a year down the line with nothing to show and funds gone. So, in February 2017, the developer and The Human Codex went their separate ways.

In the meantime, I had met Domagoj (October 2016). We had both signed up to participate in a project to do with Space, which I subsequently felt like I had to leave in order to protect & concentrate on The Human Codex. When Domagoj and I first starting speaking, it was as if we had known each other for a long time. We instantly became friends and I think we have spoken pretty much every day since. Domagoj kindly offered to take a look at what I had for The Human Codex so far and taught me some basics about web development. Liking the concept and my vision for the application, He later agreed to be our new developer.

Within a week of Domagoj as the new THC Developer, we had a single page up for the public, so they could finally see what we were trying to accomplish (this is down now while we update to Word Press). We spoke about THC nonstop and together worked out a solid foundation. Also, as our friendship continued to grow, we were able to help one another with personal issues that arose along the way (we all have them!).

Alongside all of this, I had been experiencing some problems with my day job. The problems appeared to be manageable at first but seemed to deteriorate further after August 2016 when I received some life-changing news. After what felt like a very rough time in my life in June 2017 I decided to focus solely on The Human Codex.

It wasn’t completely solely my choice but I knew the time had come to make a decision, it was time to take, what turned out to be one of if not the most crucial step so far.

Nothing had prepared me for what was to come next, I had to face one of my biggest fears, my own mind.

It all began back in December 2015 following a conversation with my partner. She was upset about the thought of her future children being deprived of a relationship with her own mother, who had sadly passed away. I began thinking of possible ways in which I could help make this situation more bearable for her, a way to help. This then led on to thoughts of how I could make a difference to people worldwide. From this initial thinking, the idea of The Human Codex was born.

We continued to speculate about what The Human Codex could be; the benefits of having something like it and how it could help people. The main selling point focused on being a digital time capsule, allowing individuals to leave their own mark in history and to choose the way in which they want to be remembered. These conversations made me think of historical ancient scriptures which are themselves called Codex’s. The name The Human Codex evolved from the fact that we were allowing Humanity to create their very own Codex.

Like everyone with an idea, before starting anything I had to do my research. Was there something out there already that people could use to do the things we wanted to be able to do? I found that were a few things that skirted along similar lines to The Human Codex is, but nothing that has our purpose, or our intent.

After a few more weeks of thinking, I decided to look for a developer to build The Human Codex. Unfortunately, I could not do this myself as I do not currently know how to code, and learning would have led to delays in Creation. Although, I do hope to learn one day.

At first, the developers that I approached didn’t seem to show much enthusiasm. It was either too bigger task or they wanted a huge sum of money to create. Unfortunately, we could not afford to pay the amounts we were quoted. So, I decided to try doing crowd funder pages. Sadly, these also failed as I only raised £17 from both – £5 of which was from my partner and £10 from a close friend! I couldn’t understand why people seemed to think that The Human Codex was a good idea, yet weren’t offering to help in the slightest. I eventually gave up asking for help and, due to The Human Codex being a Not for Profit, Investments are out of the question.

Then, out of nowhere, I finally found someone! They were willing to create The Human Codex, within my price-range. It was almost too good to be true….